lepus

See also: Lepus

Latin

lepus (a hare)

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps not an Indo-European word. It may be of Iberian origin, or else of Celtiberian substrate origin and related to Massaliot λεβηρίς (lebērís, “European rabbit”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.pus/, [ˈɫ̪ɛpʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈle.pus/, [ˈlɛːpus]

Noun

lepus m (genitive leporis); third declension

1. a hare

   Sextus videt leporem. ― Sextus sees the hare.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.100:

     et lepus inpavidus mediīs errāvit in arvīs

     and hares wandered, unafraid, among the fields

2. a poisonous sea fish colored like the hare
   • 23 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Nātūrālis Historia 32.3:

     Nōn sunt minus mīra quae dē lepore marīnō trāduntur.

     No less wonderful, too, are the particulars which we find stated relative to the sea-hare.

3. (astronomy) the constellation Lepus
   • Hyginus, Dē Astronomiā :

     Leporis autem hanc historiam memoriae prōdidērunt.

     The following story of the Hare has been recorded.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lepus	leporēs
Genitive	leporis	leporum
Dative	leporī	leporibus
Accusative	leporem	leporēs
Ablative	lepore	leporibus
Vocative	lepus	leporēs

Coordinate terms

• (hare): cunīculus, dasypūs

Derived terms

• leporārius
• leporīnus
• lepusculus

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: ljepuri
  • Romanian: iepure
• Dalmatian:
  • lipro
• Italo-Romance:
  • >? Corsican: levra
  • Italian: lepre
  • >? Sicilian: lepru, dièvuru, lebbru
    • → Maltese: liebru
• Padanian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Piedmontese: levr
    • Romagnol: lìvri
  • Friulian: jeur
  • Ladin: liever
  • Romansch: lieur
  • Venetian: liéore
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: llebre
  • Old French: lievre (see there for further descendants)
  • Occitan: lèbre
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: liebre
  • Asturian: llebre
  • Galician: lebre
  • Portuguese: lebre
  • Old Spanish: liebre
    • Spanish: liebre
      • → Tagalog: liyebre
• Insular Romance:
  • Old Corsican: [Term?]
    • Gallurese: lepparu
    • Sassarese: lepparu
  • Sardinian: leppore
• Borrowings:
  • → Proto-Albanian: [Term?]
    • Albanian: lepur, lepër; lepën
  • → Translingual: Lepus

References

• “lepus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lepus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lepus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lepus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Lithuanian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

lepùs m (feminine lepì) stress pattern 4

1. fastidious, spoilt

   Jis lepus ir visada galvoja tik apie save

   He is so fastidious and always thinking only about himself.